


Seeds of Discord Pt. 10

by kbj1123



Series: Wonder Woman & Captain America [11]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Crossover Pairings, F/M, One True Pairing, Sexual Content, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 20:19:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3302165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kbj1123/pseuds/kbj1123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone or something is causing violent riots to erupt all over the U.S., and whatever it is, it wreaks havoc with both Wonder Woman's health and Bruce Banner's ability to keep his rage in check.</p><p>The team reacts to Diana's abduction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeds of Discord Pt. 10

They all stare silently at the blank screens, and the monitors fold back into the table. Steve goes completely cold. The image of Diana chained up takes up his entire consciousness for a few seconds. He makes fists, digging his nails into the flesh of his palms and stares across the table at Bruce. “How did you,” he says evenly, then jumps to his feet and lunges across the table, “NOT see her get TAKEN?!” He has dragged Bruce across the table. Bruce springs onto all fours and his eyes flash bright green. His sleeves begin to rip, and Steve has his fist drawn back. He can feel his jaw clench and his stomach tighten. He hears Clint yell “Oh, shit!” In what feels like a time-lapse, Iron Man and Thor are holding Bruce down by the arms; Natasha has Steve’s arms pinned behind him and Clint has an arrow trained on him. “You wouldn’t use that,” Steve growls at Clint. “Try me,” he replies. 

The team splits up to drag each man off in opposite directions. By the time Director Fury and Tony get to the holding cell where Steve is kept, there isn’t much left of the walls. Steve feels like imploding. He senses every vein in his neck and arms heat and pulse. As soon as he sees the director, he shouts, “She is HELPLESS chained up like that! Why the hell am I locked up right now?” He slams another hole into a wall. His knuckles are scraped and bloody.

“We don’t even know where to look,” Fury replies. “Bruce was drugged. He knows nothing. They’ve got to make the next move. Believe me, we’ve got the techs analyzing the video and we are making this a priority. I’m gonna let you out now, but you need to go home. As soon as we have something new, you will know about it. The cell door automatically opens. “C’mon Buddy, Thor and I are your ride home,” Tony says, patting Steve on the back. He shrugs Tony’s arm away. 

Tony and Thor follow him into his apartment, so they all see the yellow padded envelope on the dining room table. Steve rips it open before Tony can caution him to have it tested. Nothing happens. Inside the envelope is a DVD. “Are you at all curious about how this got here?” he asks. Without acknowledging that anyone else is in the room, Steve walks into the living room and pops the DVD into the player and turns on the TV. Tony perches on the arm of the sofa and watches; Thor folds his arms and stands behind the sofa. 

Like the last video, the first shot is of Diana. This time she is awake though. “This is for your private entertainment, Captain Rogers.” Nyx narrates off-camera. “Meet my colleagues, Phanes and Hypnos. They’re not human, like us. Well, like me, anyway. I suppose you’re not like other humans, anyhow.” Phanes walks up to Diana and lifts her face toward the camera. She looks angry and repulsed. “Only Aphrodite herself could have given such a gift,” he says to the camera. Then he kisses her, and cries out in shock and pain. Diana has bitten down hard on his tongue. She spits blood at him. “Atta-girl,” Tony says. 

“As you can see, Phanes here is quite taken with your wife. I was quite taken with Miss Sarx, whom I believe died in your custody. I also know that you have been unforthcoming with your information. Mr. Backus is so happy that I’ve brought him the Princess of Themyscira, Wonder Woman herself; but now I am not allowed to torture her as much as I’d like. In fact, I’ve been instructed to leave her relatively healthy. So, no permanent damage will come to her. Not yet.” He pauses. “So here is our offer to you, and I don’t recommend taking too much time to consider it. The Concordance Group wants your Dr. Banner. Your wife is of little use to us, except as a symbol of how compassion and rules result in bureaucracy and weakness. The same really goes for you, by association. Bring us the Hulk, and, when we are finished with her, you can have your Wonder Woman back, Captain America. You have twenty four hours until you are contacted again for an answer. Meanwhile, see what else my demigod colleagues can do to your own demigoddess. They really are having such fun with their new toy.” The camera focuses on the one Nyx calls ‘Hypnos,’ who places a hand over Diana’s face and she slumps in her chains, unconscious. 

Steve grabs a vase of flowers from the coffee table and hurls it at the blank TV screen. It shatters and sends water and petals all over the place. “We will find her. We will bring her back,” Thor assures him. He puts a hand on Steve’s shoulder. Tony takes the DVD out of the machine and feeds it into the laptop on the dining room table. In a few seconds, a copy is sent directly to Nick Fury.

The next morning Diana is in bed, and smiles sweetly when he opens his eyes. “I was hungry so made us breakfast,” she tells him. “We can run this afternoon instead.” He holds her tightly and buries his head in her hair. “Just stay here,” he says. “Don’t leave my sight.” She laughs. “Hey, c’mon, it’s gonna get cold.” She hands him a coffee cup. It’s empty. Then a drop of something thick and red plops to the bottom of the white cup. It’s followed by another, and another, until the cup is almost full of Diana’s blood, which pours from the palm of her hand. “I think I know what this is,” she says to him. 

He bolts upright, awake for real this time. It is 2 a.m. In the next room, he hears Thor talking to someone. He splashes water on his face without bothering about stubble, and then over his head in the bathroom sink. He looks around the bedroom when he comes back, lets his focus settle on the undisturbed side of the bed. He sits on that side and rounds over Diana’s pillow, hugging it to him. After a while, when the scent of her shampoo fades, he walks down the hallway to the kitchen. Thor is saying, “I’m almost certain. It isn’t far from here. Yes, as soon as he is awake.”

“How long was I asleep?” The kitchen lights are bright. He still scans the room, as if Diana were in here somewhere. Instead, he sees someone else. “About forty minutes,” Bruce replies from the sofa. He’s drinking out of a white coffee mug that has the word “serene” embossed on its side in small, neat letters. It’s the one Diana drinks her herbal tea out of most mornings—the stuff that he jokes smells like flowers and tastes like soap. He steadies his breath and resists the urge to snatch it from Bruce’s hands. Clint is also in the kitchen. He hands Steve a fresh cup of coffee. “You’re gonna be groggy for a little while. We kind of drugged you to get you to go to sleep.”

“You’re all heart.” The coffee is very hot. He tastes heat, mostly. Heat and something bitter at the back of his tongue. 

“I volunteered for the trade-off,” Bruce begins. Tony is next to Bruce. His elbows are on his knees, and he supports his head with his hands. “For all the good that did,” he says. “Then we’ll find another way,” Nick Fury replies from where he’s been leaning against a wall, off in the corner of the room. “The Senate Committee on Superhuman Affairs will not agree to a trade. As far as they’re concerned, Diana’s little pro-choice moment was enough for them to treat her as a political liability. So pack up. In the morning when you are contacted, you are going to agree to the trade anyway, without my knowledge. I am assuming this is a time when following orders and protocols is slightly less important to you. ”

Steve nods. Fury continues, “You will likely lose your commission, face dishonorable discharge, and might be accused of treason for this.” Steve nods again. “I will do whatever I have to get Diana back safely…hey, where’s Natasha? Espionage is her thing. Why isn’t she here?”

“I was on the phone with her when you walked in,” Thor says. “She thinks she knows who to speak with, to find out where Diana is being held.” 

The day drags on; the helplessness that comes with having no action to take wears him down. The morning and afternoon take on a kind of milky haze. Everything Steve sees and does happens through a thin, slightly viscous film. Team members take turns babysitting him and running interference at headquarters. When directed, he goes through the motions of living through the hours: sleep, shower, shave. Go run. Eat this. Shower again. He is given files, but he can’t tell anyone what he’s read. “Words,” he tells them. 

The doorbell rings at exactly 6 p.m. A skinny teenager with dark hair hands Steve another padded envelope when he opens the door. Steve grabs the kid by the collar and slams him into the wall. “Who sent you? Where’s your boss?” The boy turns pale and stammers “I’m Jim, sir. Jim Wright. Please, I dunno anything!” The hallway smells vaguely of urine. Steve ignores the fact that this kid’s pants are wet.

Clint sprints up and extricates the kid from Steve’s grip. “Whoa buddy, he’s probably just some kid who got some money for making a delivery. I bet it was all anonymous.” He turns to the boy. “Go on, get outta here,” he tells him. The boy runs.

The video again focuses on Diana. This time, two men stand next to her. Nyx’s disembodied voice says, “Good morning, Captain America. Are you feeling heroic? Have you decided to come to the aid of your damsel in distress?” One of the men is large, with olive skin and almost as large and muscular as the Hulk, makes a fist and slams it into Diana’s solar plexus so forcefully that the wall behind her cracks slightly. She looks angry, as if she’d been deeply insulted. She instinctively tries to make a fist and hit back, but the chains hold her fast. “That’s Erebos,” Nyx explains. Sarx’s brother. He is angry at you as well, but you’re not here for him to hurt. Remember, friend, no permanent damage.” He must be speaking into a microphone. Erebos slams her into the wall again. 

Nyx continues, “At the end of this bit of entertainment, I will give you instructions.” He pauses. Diana is saying something, but it’s been muted. Nyx laughs. “I can see why Phanes likes her so much!” She doesn’t know she’s being recorded. Would you like to hear the tirade? I’ll turn the sound on for you. 

Diana’s voice is a low, raspy growl that Steve didn’t think she even could manage. “If you hurt my husband, be certain that even immortal, you are a dead man. I will kill you, I swear it. I will hunt you down with every Artemis-given gift I have and I will make you suffer for a thousand millennia. I will find and destroy everything that is dear to you. I shall take away neither your heartbeat, nor your breath. I will make you wish I would grant you that mercy. No—one by one I am going to pick out every single thing you hold precious, every person you love and I am going to make you sit there impotently as I destroy them: every sibling, every friend. I swear you will pay for Steve’s life and every other life you take. I swear by Hera and Hades.”

The sound goes mute again. The other man, who wears a full-length, hooded white cloak, puts his hand to her head and Steve sees that she is screaming in pain. 

“That’s other man is Ker. He has a peculiar talent for pain. I really do understand why Mr. Backus believes your Hulk would be an excellent link between the dark demigods and the potential humanity holds. He’s quite exquisite. Some colleagues, like Phanes, think your wife is exquisite and alluring in her own right, but I don’t see it. Even when she’s this enraged it’s more entertaining than anything else.” He sighs wistfully. At any rate, on Saturday at 8 a.m. you and a colleague of your choice, if you wish it, will deliver Dr. Banner to the address inside the envelope, and receive further instructions. Bring weapons if you wish; it will be in vain. Remember, you have approximately fifteen hours, if my delivery boy got this to you on time. His instructions were for 6:00 sharp. In the meantime, we’ll have fun with our new toy. He flips a switch for the sound again. Diana’s leggings are ripped at the knees and one of her bra straps is torn. When Ker slams her against the wall again, there is a definitive thud. Diana’s body flops like a ragdoll, and the sound she makes is of absolute suffering. 

“I’m gonna kill him,” Steve says. “I’m gonna get her out of there, and then I am going to destroy them.”


End file.
